A young boy in Kenya feeds his family’s improved dairy cows (photo credit: East Africa Dairy Development project).

‘The head of the global livestock research centre (ILRI) in Kenya says smallholder farmers will be essential in providing the animal protein needed to feed nine billion people by 2050.

‘Dr Jimmy Smith’s comments are in response to calls for people to go vegan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of grazing.

. . . [E]cosystems are under pressure as farmers try to produce one billion tonnes more dairy and [460] million tonnes more of meat [each year] within four decades — Jimmy Smith

‘He told the International Grasslands Congress in Sydney that the reality is that 1.3 billion people work in the livestock sector, and livestock grazing covers one third of the earth’s ecosystems. . . .

“[T]he food equation cannot be met without Australia and New Zealand, who produce…